


Flower Crown Revolutionaries

by virvatulilla



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, they/them pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 11:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13433967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virvatulilla/pseuds/virvatulilla
Summary: Asheden & Vicos friendship. Takes place in my original universe. This was also a xmas gift for a friend, and i'm posting it here now.





	Flower Crown Revolutionaries

It was the day of  _Surede Theve_  on Geste, and Asheden wished they could be home to celebrate it. At the moment, they were in Doreia as Vicos’s guest, and only that morning had Asheden remembered that in Aaniedelain they probably would not hold such celebrations. After all, the culture of Nibat ne Geste was hardly known on this side of the world.

Asheden turned on their other side in bed, not feeling like getting up yet, even though the sun had already risen a long time ago behind the heavy curtains covering the windows of the guest room. They had felt that way for many weeks, even months, but somehow getting up to do things sounded like too much. It was easier for Asheden to decide they deserved all the extra rest anyway, having led a revolution for several years.

There was a knock on the door, but before Asheden could get up and go open the door Vicos was already in the room. “Good morning!” Vicos said cheerily as he walked to open the heavy curtains blinding the windows. “Time for you to wake up!”

Asheden covered their eyes as sunlight shone directly on their face. “How are you awake so early?” they asked Vicos, their voice so deep and raspy it was practically dragging on the floor.

“Because I have something for you,” Vicos said, sitting on the edge of Asheden’s bed. “Get dressed, we have somewhere to be.”

Vicos was out of the door before Asheden managed to sit up in the bed. They stared out of the window for a while. The sun was shining, and the sky was clear for the first time in weeks. Asheden didn’t hurry too much when they got ready for a late breakfast. If Vicos wanted them to hurry, he could come to say it himself.

Vicos didn’t say much when they ate, and he waited patiently for Asheden to finish eating. It was slow business because they didn’t feel like eating, but it felt mandatory because Vicos was watching them eat. When Asheden was ready and they got up from the table Vicos was immediately next to them. “Let’s go,” he said eagerly, offering Asheden his arm.

Asheden sighed at Vicos’s zeal for going somewhere, but let him lead themself outside.

Once they were outside of the palace area Asheden let go of Vicos’s arm. There wasn’t any grand reason why they did, only habit and the fact that the excessive physical intimacy that came so easily to the aaniedelins was sometimes overwhelming for Asheden. Not only because of the way they grew up, but also the years spent as Sera’s protector, both a part of why casual physical intimacy still didn’t come naturally to them.

Vicos didn’t say anything about Asheden withdrawing their hand, but he acknowledged their need for personal space by stepping away slightly. In the crowded streets it wasn’t normally easy to have any personal space, but Vicos was such a presence with his broad hand gestures while explaining something to Asheden that the masses parted in front of them as they walked.

Of course Vicos didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, and Asheden wondered if part of people giving him more space was because he was royalty. They weren’t sure if Vicos would agree to that, so they asked him about it.

“Do I notice people treating me differently because of who I am?” Vicos sounded surprised of the question. “Of course I notice.”

“Does it ever bother you?” Asheden asked. “I have noticed that at the palace you don’t pay attention to the servants, but when you’re outside of the palace grounds and not on official business and someone treats you as royalty or recognizes you, you pull a weird face.”

Vicos gave a short laugh. “That I haven’t noticed,” he said. “I guess my feelings show on my face a lot. You know, one reason why I was a hooker for a while was my desperate need to be confronted… differently, at the very least. A lot of common people want to live like royalty, and if I could I would offer my place to someone. They don’t realize the freedom they have, not being responsible for thousands upon thousands of lives, not feeling the guilt for all those lives lost in the wars…”

Vicos fell silent, and as his body language also quieted down Asheden noticed that people walking past them didn’t give them as much space as before. Asheden put a hand on the hilt of the sword on their hip for comfort. They didn’t have much to say to ease Vicos’s guilt, because they knew he had reason to feel it. Asheden knew about Vicos’s role in the recent wars, but they also knew that he’d spent weeks, even months after the war visiting the graves and families of all the soldiers fallen in the war. He was probably also still trying to make amends to the people who had been severely injured. It was maybe a bit excessive, Asheden had to admit, but they hoped it would at least give Vicos more perspective or other ways to work through the emotions.

“I was having a day off from thinking about that stuff,” Vicos sighed and dragged his hands over his face. “Could we keep it that way for the rest of the day, please? I want to give you something good, and me feeling bad isn’t a part of that.”

It didn’t take Vicos long to regain his positive façade. Asheden didn’t ask him more personal questions and just followed him without saying much. They did comment on the stories Vicos was telling while they walked through Doreia.

Asheden had thought Vicos had wanted to show something, but then something in a shop window caught his eye and suddenly the purpose of them coming to town was sliding from Vicos’s mind as he was captivated by something irrelevant. However, Vicos noticed it himself and shook his head, tearing himself away from the window before Asheden would’ve said anything.

“I will remember you,” Vicos said, pointing at the object in the window while he started walking away. “I’ll come back first thing tomorrow. Don’t you dare be sold by then.”

As they continued walking Asheden couldn’t help but start to get curious. What could there be that Vicos would want to show them that would require walking this far? They had come to the city before on spell bikes, accompanied by royal guards, but now there was just the two of them and on foot.

“Where are we going?” Asheden asked when Vicos just kept walking past the market place and all the big and important buildings. “Is there something outside Doreia you want me to see?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” Vicos said.

Asheden wasn't the type to pry into things, but Vicos's behaviour made them really, really curious because Vicos usually didn't have it in him to be this secretive. And Vicos wasn't usually good at keeping secrets from them either, and Asheden knew that they could've tricked Vicos to tell them where he was leading them, but that wouldn't have been nice. Sometimes surprises were nice, and Asheden was hoping this surprise would actually  _be_  nice. That maybe Vicos had learnt his lesson and would not prank Asheden ever again.

Asheden knew they had arrived where Vicos was taking them when they stopped on the side of a flower field. There were people on the field, decorating a traditional  _souercharn_ , a gesteian flower pole for Surede Theve.

“What is this?” Asheden asked, turning to Vicos. “Did you read my thoughts that I was missing this? How did you even find out about this celebration?”

Vicos looked a bit smug. “Well, since I met you I've read a few things about your culture,” he explained. “I especially remembered this celebration and the day it's celebrated on. There are flowers involved so I figured you'd be interested.”

Asheden looked at the people on the field. One of them was looking at the two of them standing there on the edge of the field. “You didn't even know it was a gesteian celebration,” they said.

“Yeah, I totally didn't,” Vicos admitted straight away. “But it doesn't matter that I didn't know, but that we're here now, right?”

“Yes,” Asheden said. The people on the field waved at them to come closer and join the celebration preparations, which Asheden happily did.

Preparations for Surede Theve included making the  _souercharn_ , and decorating it with flowers. Then it would be taken to a big open area, raised there, and they would tie long ribbons to the top. In the evening they would dance around it, in doing so tying the ribbons to the pole, and when it was wrapped completely, they would burn it.

Vicos was horrified when Asheden and a couple of others explained the celebrations to him. “But... You burn all the flowers too?” he asked, clearly troubled.

“Only the ones on the pole,” Asheden assured him. “We're going to wear flowers on our  clothes as well, and those won't be burned, only the ones symbolizing malice that are on the pole.”

“Oh, so you're from Cox Aller,” said an older woman who was tying flowers to the pole opposite of Asheden. “On my island, Tolleld, we made veils for ourselves from a really beautiful flower that only grows on three islands in Geste.”

Vicos gave Asheden a worried look when the woman mentioned Cox Aller, because he knew of the things Asheden had experienced there. They didn't mind it being mentioned now, though. “Wow, really?” they said. “I had only heard of it before, but never met anyone from those islands. What about others? Where are you from? How did you usually celebrate Surede Theve?”

One other was from Cox Aller, and from the look he shared with Asheden they both knew their positions in the city had been similar. The others were from other parts of Geste, and the traditions for Surede Theve varied greatly. Some didn't have flowers, and some didn't have ribbons in their traditions while some tied ribbons in their hair as well. Some danced the whole day, some sang instead of dancing, some made hay dolls to tie to the pole, and some threw the  _souercharn_ pole into the ocean the next morning. The traditions, as well as the meanings and reasons to have those traditions were almost as numerous as the people on the flower field that day, and the only combining factor in all of them was the  _souercharn_ pole. It was apparently tradition in the Doreia's gesteian community to combine as many elements into the celebration as possible, which meant a lot of different dances in the evening. And apparently, carrying the burning souercharn pole through the city and throwing it into the Reintfon Bay in the heart of the city.

When Vicos heard of that, realisation dawned on his face. “ _Oh_ ,” he gasped. “So  _that’s_  what it is. I’ve seen it done many times but I haven’t quite believed my eyes. That explains a whole bunch of things.”

Asheden laughed. The sound of their laugh made Vicos look at them, and give them a slanted smile. It was the kind of smile which Asheden knew was genuine, because it didn’t look rehearsed or that Vicos was pretending or trying to look good. It was the kind of smile that never failed to make Asheden feel better. This time wasn’t an exception for that either.

After the decorations on the souercharn were finished, Asheden and Vicos started to make each other flower crowns. Asheden teached Vicos what each flower meant for them – they wouldn’t want a flower signifying malice or sickness in a piece worn on their person. But when Vicos said he wanted to make a flower crown to Asheden without their help, they told him to ask the cox allerin boy for the flower meanings, as the traditions he was familiar with were the most similar to the ones Asheden knew.

Vicos and Asheden weren’t the only ones who wanted to decorate themselves with flowers. The old tolleldian woman, who had spoken about veils made from flowers had found something similar to the flowers from the field, and was excited to show Asheden how the flower veil was made. The only thing about that was that the flowers here weren’t the same kind, and only the weaving of them was similar, the stems of the flowers were longer than the rows of flower buds. Despite of that Asheden was amazed of the woman’s skill.

“Are the two of you lovers?”

Asheden looked up at the woman, who looked like her question had been in all seriousness. “Not at all,” they answered. “What makes you think so?”

“It did seem unlikely looking at the two of you,” she sad, “but I know in some parts of Geste people make flower crowns for their loved ones, and I thought maybe it was customary in Cox Aller too.”

“It’s not,” Asheden laughed softly. “My friend is doreian, born and raised, and has never participated in this celebration before. I wanted him to have an enjoyable experience, that’s all.”

The woman nodded, smiling happily. “That’s wonderful,” she said. “We should get more doreians to learn about our culture, since we have to keep learning about theirs.”

Asheden hummed in agreement. Their flower crown for Vicos was ready, and they lifted it up to see the whole thing better before deciding whether it was really finished or not.

“Wow, that’s the most beautiful flower crown I have seen all month!”

Asheden turned around to look at Vicos, who had sneaked up on them, holding a simple, slender flower crown in his hands. “Definitely more beautiful than this one,” Vicos continued, twirling the small flower crown in his hands. “I didn’t want to make it complicated, so I only used these flowers that you said have a good, special meaning to you. Was– was it wrong? Do you hate it?”

Vicos looked surprised and worried to see tears in Asheden’s eyes, but they shook their head. “It’s perfect,” they said quietly through their tears. “Thank you.”

The worry on Vicos’s face was still there when the two of them handed each other the flower crowns. Asheden’s fit them perfectly. The small, star-like flowers Vicos had used made them think about Sera. She had said those flowers suited Asheden perfectly, and had gone to great lengths to get Asheden to wear their first ever flower crown, made of those particular flowers.

Even though Vicos’s reaction to his flower crown wasn’t similar to Asheden’s, he seemed really happy to wear it. The big, pink and pale blue flowers suited his pastel clothes, which was the main reason for Asheden to have chosen those flowers.

Vicos took a hand mirror from his back pocket to be able to admire his flower crown better. “This is seriously amazing,” he told Asheden. “I’ve seen a lot of flower crowns in my life and I can tell this is the handiwork of someone who has made hundreds of flower crowns. Did the revolution require you to make flower crowns a lot or how have you had time for that?”

It was a good thing that they were out of earshot from the gesteians, but Asheden had to look over their shoulder to check none of them had heard Vicos’s comment. “Don’t talk about the revolution like that,” they said in a low voice. “If someone finds out the part I had in it...”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Vicos said, slapping a hand on his mouth. “I didn’t even realize...”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Asheden said, grabbing his arm. “Acting suspiciously will just create suspicion.” They paused for a moment. “And I wish the whole thing had been an occasion where everyone would’ve worn a flower crown. Wouldn’t that have been a great thing? A flower crown revolution.”

“I like the sound of that,” Vicos admitted. “I’m going to make it a thing. We’re flower crown revolutionaries now. Down with hats! Replace them with flower crowns!”

Asheden couldn’t help but giggle at Vicos. A flower crown revolution sounded way better and less traumatizing than the one they had led in their home country.

The day of Surede Theve went by faster than Asheden would have liked. It was a good day, filled with things from home they had missed and new things about how their own people celebrated this day. These were times they had been glad to be able to reminiscence, sharing the stories with Vicos.

They were watching others dance around the souercharn pole as Asheden told Vicos stories about their previous Surede Theve celebrations. Even in Cox Aller celebrations had been better days, days when everyone was just celebrating, even if it hadn't been grand. The celebrations they'd participated in while serving as Sera's protector, though, those had been extremely grand.

“...I mean, everyone knew we were going to burn the pole,” Asheden was saying to Vicos, “so I told them, why do the ribbons need to be silk? That's just unnecessary. I managed to change Sera's mind but damn,  _royalty_...” They shook their head in disbelief.

Vicos chuckled. “I've been told that before,” he said. “When you have too much money, or you don't have to care about it, things like practicality and not following every silly tradition might sound like foreign concepts.”

“I didn't intend to...” Asheden begun, but Vicos wouldn't hear any of it.

“You should, though,” he said. “It's good to have someone telling me when to stop.”

Asheden stared at the pole for a while. “It was like that with Sera as well,” they said. “Until she learned to be better without having me with her at all times, of course.”

“I think sometimes that it's a burden to be born in a position of power and privilege,” Vicos said quietly. “I mean, because it's so easy to grow up ignorant, arrogant, and lacking in common sense. It’s easy because you can do that, you can afford to do that when you’re in my kind of position. I admit I was like that before, I didn't even realize some things that are a given to me aren't that to everyone else. I was an asshole, really.”

“What made you learn to be better?” Asheden asked. “That is, if you think you've learned from those times.”

Vicos gave a long, deep sigh and fell silent for a long time. When he continued, his voice was soft and very serious. “I learned – more than I can even say - when I ran away from home and became a prostitute,” he told Asheden. “At first I thought I would go back after a couple of days or a week, but it wasn't enough, in that time I realized that I needed to learn to be better, and that it would take more time. I've told you that I worked that profession before, but what I didn't tell you is that I was in that line of work for more than three quarters of a year before my brother found me and eventually made me return home. After that I believe I became a whole different person. A better one, I want to believe.”

“I didn't know you well before,” Asheden said, “but now, I can say with honesty that you're a decent person.”

“Thank you,” Vicos said, sounding genuinely happy about the compliment. “That's the nicest thing anyone has said about me in a long time.”

It seemed like the souercharn pole was wrapped in ribbons and ready to be burned. Asheden wondered how they would carry the pole at all to be thrown into the bay while it was on fire. Both of them had been asked to take part in it since they were athinges, but both had declined the offer. After all it was their first Surede Theve in Doreia, and observing this tradition from further away sounded like a better idea than going straight into it by agreeing to carry a burning pole.

The whole ordeal with the burning souercharn pole was exciting to watch, to put it mildly. There to carry the pole was at least ten athinges, some of which weren't gestean, but they were direly needed for their fireproofness. Asheden and Vicos had moved further away to watch it being thrown into the harbour.

“Why do you celebrate this holiday?” Vicos asked Asheden when they were waiting for the pole carriers to show up between the houses. “I heard there's many reasons to do it, so what's yours?”

Asheden thought about it for a while. “Part of it is habit, I guess,” they said. “And I can get a flower crown on this holiday, so do I need more reason to celebrate?”

Vicos smiled. “That's true,” he said. “I wish there were more holidays that involve wearing flower crowns. There's nothing like that in the winter.”

“Well, that's probably because there are no flowers,” Asheden chuckled, and looked at Vicos. “And it just occurred to me that this year I'm celebrating Surede Theve for a different reason than before.”

Vicos looked interested in what Asheden was saying even though he was now looking at the souercharn pole they were carrying towards the water. “What is it, then?”

Asheden didn't say anything until the burning pole had been cut to pieces and thrown into the harbor from the piers. There were clippers or similar small ships anchored at the harbor, and Asheden saw that not just one, but at least from six of them someone jumped into the sea to fetch themselves a charred part of the pole. They wondered if it was a tradition, or if burned, wet logs were important to the sailors for some reason.

“This year I'm celebrating this holiday to remember my home,” Asheden told Vicos. “Honestly, I want to thank you from my heart that you are celebrating with me. I miss Nibat ne Geste, and I miss Sera, and even though I will probably never see them again, this holiday makes me remember them with only warmth. It is thanks to you that I've been able to do that - not turn this celebration to a melancholy sob festival.”

Vicos put a hand on Asheden's shoulder. “Thank you for saying that,” he said. “Now hold this.” He gave Asheden his flower crown.

For a moment Asheden followed Vicos towards the pier in a dumbfounded confusion, but then understood what he was about to do. They waited on the pier with the other gesteians when Vicos jumped into the harbour. He fetched a charred log that had floated near the pier, because nobody else seemed to want it, and swam back with a huge grin on his face.

“I'm going to keep this in my room,” Vicos said proudly, presenting the wet, charred piece of wood to Asheden as he climbed on the pier, dripping wet. There were still some pieces of fabric sticking to the log, but all the flowers had either burned or been washed away to the sea.

Asheden refused to hold the charred wood for Vicos. They explained that to them that touching the burned souercharn pole would mean bad luck. Even though they weren’t sure if they believed it, it would be better not to act against that superstition.

With all the pieces of the burned pole gathered from the harbour the celebration was over. Asheden returned Vicos his flower crown, pressing it on his wet hair. Tired from the excessive social interactions that day, Asheden was ready to go back to the palace. Vicos offered them his arm, but Asheden didn’t take it until they were well past the busiest streets in the city. They had also asked Vicos to keep silent until they told him otherwise.

“Today was a good day,” Asheden said to Vicos, breaking the silence when they walked into the palace garden. “I’m glad I went with you today.”

Vicos showed Asheden another of his soft, genuine smiles they had seen more lately. “It’s all thanks to you,” he said, lightly shoving Asheden’s shoulder. “Without you I wouldn’t have found about this flower crown festival. I’m going to treasure this one you made me.”

Looking at Vicos Asheden felt really warm inside. It was something they hadn’t felt in a long time, not since before they had had to say farewell to Sera and leave Nibat ne Geste behind. After that Asheden had thought they’d never feel the same warmth towards anyone, but now it was there again, right there in their chest.

Asheden stopped in the middle of the gravel road, and Vicos took a couple of steps before realizing they had stopped. He turned to look at them staring at the night sky opening above them.

“I like you a lot,” Asheden told Vicos, not looking at him. “At the moment I think you are my dearest friend.”

“Thank you, Asheden,” Vicos said quietly. His voice was full of emotion. “That means so much to me. The feeling is mutual.”

Asheden and Vicos looked at each other, and both chuckled. It was a good feeling. For a long time Asheden had thought they would never feel happy again, but at that moment they started thinking that maybe being happy again could be possible after all.

 


End file.
